Adrian Gonzalez: More likely to be hurt at first base than in outfield

PITTSBURGH — Prior to Saturday night’s game at PNC Park, Red Sox first baseman Adrian Gonzalez downplayed the risk he might face if switching from first base to left field, suggestion such concerns shouldn’t be the impetus for not making the change.

“If I happen to do it everybody knows I’m not going to be great at it but I’ll make the routine play and I don’t see any fear of getting hurt for any reason,” Gonzalez said. “Guys make errors in the outfield the same way they make errors in the infield.

“I can get hurt the same at first than I can get hurt in the outfield. I actually think I can get hurt more at first base because I’m not thinking about it, where in the outfield I would be cautious. I think there’s a greater chance of me getting hurt at first base, but then again you never play the game thinking about getting hurt. If you get hurt, you get hurt. It just happens.”

Red Sox manager Terry Francona reiterated Saturday that he was struggling with the decision regarding possibly playing Gonzalez in right field in order to get David Ortiz playing time at first base. The manager cited the risk of injury as one of the chief concerns when contemplating the idea of playing his No. 3 hitter in the outfield.

“I’m just hung up. I’m struggling with it, and I don’t want to do something I’m struggling with,” Francona said. “If we put Gonzie out there and he got hurt, I’m just not ready to do it. Maybe three, four games into this road trip, maybe I will. We’ll see.”

Gonzalez, who is perplexed by all the attention the potential move has garnered, downplayed how difficult the switch might be.

“You have guys who play multiple positions and they move around all the time. Nobody seems to care about that,” he said. “Even moving around the infield, guys that move around from short to second there’s different ways of moving your feet that is a lot harder than going from first to the outfield.”